Luke Plunkett

Musician Jon Black, aka Fort Atlantic, has released his latest album on Nintendo Entertainment System cartridge. Not a replica case, not a reproduction, he's released it on actual NES carts.

It was an idea that started in Black's mind as a marketing gimmick, but amazingly, after some convincing, his label agreed to it.

That means his record label, Dualtone, had to hunt down dozens of old NES carts, scrub them up, and re-label them (the album itself is included on a flash drive). What makes this different from, say, chiptune artists who have done the same thing is that Black isn't what you'd call a games guy. His act isn't steeped in the culture.

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Awesomely, the label even went and bought five golden Zelda carts, which were seeded amongst the original production run as limited edition "golden tickets" (and which contain extras like free concert tickets).

It's a neat idea, but one that's also met with a little resistance, mostly from history purists who baulk at what amounts to the "destruction" of an old game for little more than a few novel sales and some PR.